Other Local category, Page 14
Mt. Lebanon native Shipley paired with Tiger Woods for final round of MastersVideo
Mt. Lebanon native and Central Catholic grad Neal Shipley already has received advice from Jack Nicklaus, made it to the weekend in his first Masters and secured the prize for the tournament’s low amateur. Now, one more bonus: He is paired for the final round with five-time Masters champ Tiger...
Fiercely competitive Central Catholic grad Neal Shipley makes cut in Masters debut
Central Catholic graduate Neal Shipley stepped onto the tee box at the first hole at Augusta National — a 445-yard par-4 named “Tea Olive” — about to embark on the most high-profile round of his golfing career Thursday afternoon. He promptly launched his drive deep into the woods to the...
Preparations nearly complete for Saturday’s Pittsburgh Karate Championships
Frank Caliguri made a trip Thursday to the Quality Inn in New Kensington to check on the status of a number of things in advance of Saturday’s Pittsburgh Karate Championships. “We also had a time keepers and score keepers meeting the other night to make sure they’re all ready to...
Allegheny Valley YMCA Gators shine at district, state swim championships
The Allegheny Valley YMCA Gators were well represented at the district championships and had 11 swimmers qualify for the state championships. They also broke multiple team records across both championship weekends. The districts were held at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, on March 7-9, and the Gators sent 33...
Franklin Regional grad Caroline Tragesser sets sights on helping Ohio Dominican women’s golf make NCAAs
There is one distinction no one can take away from Caroline Tragesser when it comes to her place in the history of Ohio Dominican women’s golf: In the 21-year history of the program — all under coach Chris Deibel — the Franklin Regional grad is the first player from Pennsylvania....
Plum Junior Olympic wrestlers prove to be among best in the state
A trio of Plum youth wrestlers — Nicholas Pifer, Braeden Watters, and Ethan Schwartz — recently qualified for and participated in the Keystone state tournament in Reading, and the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling state tournament at Pitt’s Petersen Events Center. Schwartz, in the 10U 55-pound division, now is a two-time Keystone...
Derry, Lower Burrell, Trafford, Yough join District 31 Legion
District 31 American Legion baseball doesn’t start until May 20, but the league has made offseason noise by expanding to 14 teams. Jason Bush, who serves as the District 31 president and Region 7 director, believes the league is the largest in the state. “We were actually in talks with...
Delmont, New Kensington rinks to host national youth hockey tournaments
Last year, the Allegheny Badgers Tier II 16U boys ice hockey team won the Mid-Am District title, advanced to nationals in Amherst, N.Y., and brought home third place in the 3A bracket. Seventeen of the 20 players from that team remained together and moved up to the 18U level. The...
Ligonier Valley grad Miles Higgins building toward big future in javelin at UNC Wilmington
Track and field wasn’t something Miles Higgins aspired to do. Coming up through the ranks in Ligonier Valley School District, he played football and basketball, but his spring calendar was empty so he joined the middle school track and field team simply as a way to fill his time between...
Competition fuels Forest Hills resident Sarah Mitchell as part of Steel City Surge women’s semi-pro volleyball
Lee Yong Ok rose to the top of her chosen sport in her native South Korea. She worked her way up the ranks in women’s volleyball, and her work paid off to where she was selected to play in and represent her country for the 1988 Olympic Summer Games in...
Former GCC track star Corinn Brewer working to bring women’s decathlon to the Olympics
Decathlete Corinn Brewer is working to change the Olympics. A lofty sounding goal? Yes. But not to the former Greensburg Central Catholic track and field standout who is a first-year multi-event athlete and pole vaulter at Lehigh. Brewer is pushing for the games to add the women’s decathlon, an event...
Former WWE, WCW wrestler Virgil, a Wilkinsburg native, dies at 61
Professional wrestling is all about characters and stories — two things Mike Jones is associated with under his wrestling personas. Jones, born in Wilkinsburg and a Pittsburgh area resident most of his life, died Wednesday morning at age 61, according to WWE. Information had been public since 2022 about his...
Valley grad Tyler Santucci takes on latest challenge as Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator
Last fall, Valley grad Tyler Santucci directed one of the best defenses in the ACC. In his first season as Duke’s defensive coordinator, Santucci oversaw a unit that led the conference in points allowed (19.0 per game) and finished 10th nationally in red zone defense (.744). Those numbers helped Duke...
Preparations underway for 30th annual Freeport International Baseball Invitational
Pitchers and catchers report to the Pittsburgh Pirates training facility in Florida on Feb. 14, and opening day is March 28 in Miami. College baseball teams, both locally and throughout the country, begin their seasons next week. High school baseball preseason practices start March 4 with season openers three weeks...
Quaker Valley MS’s Brennan Breisinger adds county title to undefeated regular season
Brennan Breisinger is one of a kind on the wrestling mat. As an eighth grader on the Quaker Valley middle school team, Breisinger began the week of Jan. 29 with an unblemished 24-0 record — with 21 pins and three major decisions — and has placed first in the Allegheny...
Franklin Regional grad Garrett Thompson making a name for himself with Ohio U wrestling
Throughout his time as a wrestler, Franklin Regional grad Garrett Thompson said he mostly had been an unknown. He never qualified for the PIAA championships in high school, and his college recruiting prospects, at least where bigger schools were concerned, were almost nonexistent. So before this, his redshirt sophomore season...
Latrobe grad Gabe Willochell tapping into wrestling potential after transfer to Wyoming
When Wyoming wrestling coach Mark Branch needed to fill holes in his 2023-24 roster, he did what most college coaches do nowadays: He went looking in the transfer portal. Among the names he found was Gabe Willochell, a Latrobe grad who had spent two seasons competing at Edinboro, qualifying for...
Springdale grad Sean Dugan continues to move up football coaching ladder at Eastern Michigan
The life of a college coach can be, if nothing else, nomadic. Whether it is scouting, traveling for games or taking new jobs, those in the profession are almost perpetually on the move. Springdale grad Sean Dugan knows this firsthand. In May, he was hired as a defensive analyst at...
Monessen fighter Michael Moorer to be inducted into International Boxing Hall of FameVideo
Anytime you’re part of a group of fighters that includes Muhammad Ali, you’re doing something right. Michael Moorer is one of only four boxers, including Ali, to win the heavyweight world title three times, and he was the first southpaw to become heavyweight champ. Born in Brooklyn, Moorer, 55, moved...
Paul Spadafora’s rise to world champion, fall from grace chronicled in ‘Fighting Till The End’
Paul Spadafora was back where he believes he belongs, wearing gloves and working in and around the ring with aspiring fighters last month at Tom Yankello’s World Class Boxing Gym in Ambridge. The former IBF lightweight champion from McKees Rocks, who now resides in Las Vegas, returned to his hometown...
Penn Hills grad Raion Strader makes immediate impact for Miami (Ohio) defense
Raion Strader felt more than prepared once the time rolled around to balance time in the classroom with time on the field with the Miami (Ohio) football program. Enrolling in college early allowed the Penn Hills graduate to understand what he was in for. “I wanted to stay consistent,” Strader...
Valley youth wrestling built on family, community
Valley youth wrestling had meek beginnings when Moe Quin started the program in 1968 at a local YMCA. Today, the growth of the program has led it to be a feeder system for Valley’s middle school and high school wrestling teams. “Consistency and communication have helped drive our increase in...
Diamond Run golf pro takes on a different kind of course for charity
Adam Morrison had a Sunday to remember last month. Morrison, head professional at Diamond Run Golf Club in Sewickley, participated Nov. 5 in the world famous TCS New York City Marathon. The 34-year-old Morrison was part of a team of PGA of America golf professionals that ran in the 26.2-mile...
Kiski Area grad Bella DeVito gets off to solid start in college wrestling career at Lock Haven
When he got Isabella DeVito into the wrestling room at Lock Haven, second-year coach Matt Lackey immediately was struck by her demeanor. For someone who competes in such a high-intensity sport, she was, in Lackey’s words, “very mild mannered.” But once she got on the mat, that demeanor changed. Under...
Lower Burrell’s Mat Factory ‘not a huge gym’ but finding ways to train variety of competitors
If you’re not actually looking for the Mat Factory, you may drive right by it. Situated at 2827 Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell, the Mat Factory has a mat space of just 22 feet by 75 feet, which is just fine with founder Isaac Greeley. “I’ve always loved that atmosphere...
